Tent frame



Jan. 7, 1958 B. L. DENN TENT FRAME Original Filed July 22, 1952 BERNARDL. oi-zuu INVENTOR.

BY %444M has TENT FRAME Bernard L. Denn, Portland, Oreg.

Original application July 22, 1952, Serial No. 300,190, now Patent No.2,757,677, dated August 7, 1956.

Divided and this application June 4, 1956, Serial No. 589,323

2 Claims. (Cl. 135--3) This invention relates to improvements in tentframes of the type shown and described in my United States Patent2,488,809, dated November 22, 1949, and this application is a divisionof the subject matter included in my United States Patent No. 2,757,677.As therein pointed out it is one of the objects of the invention toprovide an umbrella frame of this character made of light weight tubingcapable of being quickly and conveniently assembled or disassembled, andwhich when in disassembled form can be conveniently packed into a smallbundle for storage or transporation. It is one of the principal objectsof the present invention to provide an umbrella tent frame wherein itsstructural tubular elements are all of uniform length which eliminatesthe necessity of sorting out said elements when erecting the frame.

Another object is the provision of a maximum number of identicalfittings for uniting said tubular elements to also minimize sorting out.

The foregoing and other objects will appear as my invention is morefully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustratedin the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of an umbrella tent frame erected inaccordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of a central fitting for the top of theumbrella tent frame.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a typical top corner fitting and Figure4 is a side elevation of a typical bottom corner fitting.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of umbrella tentframe.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a fitting for the apex of the form offrame shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of fitting for theform of tent frame shown in Figure 5 when it is desired to include eavepoles in assembling said frame.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary detail view of one form of means for uniting adowel with the end of a tubular member.

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of a locking mechanismfor interconnecting certain of the tubes.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

The umbrella tent frame illustrated in Figure 1 and assembled inaccordance with the invention comprises a square base frame generallyindicated at 33 made up of a plurality of tubular sections 34 of equallength connected at their outer ends to corner fittings 35 which areshown in detail in Figure 4. Each bottom corner fitting 35 comprisesthree outwardly diverging arm portions indicated generally at 35Areinforced relative to each other by integrated webs 35B. The inner endsof the tubes are interconnected by the type of dowel shown States Patent0 M 2,818,875 Patented Jan. 7, 1958 in Figure 9. The corner postsgenerally indicated at 36 are made up of tubular sections 37 of the samelength as the sections 34 of the base frame. The top frame generallyindicated at 38 is made up of four tubular sections 39 also equal inlength to that of the sections 34 and 37 and are interconnected at theirinner ends by the central fitting 40 illustrated in Figure 2 andconnected at their outer ends to the corner posts by means of thefittings 41 shown in detail in Figure 3. Each of said fittings 41comprises two angularly related arm portions 41A reinforced by anintegrated web 413. A mast 42 is also attached to the fitting 40 byinsertion into a central vertical socket 40A formed therein. One of theupper sections 37 of one of the corner posts is provided with a slidingdowel 37A operable by a handle 37B extending through a vertical slot 37Cformed in the post for forcing the bottom portion of the dowel into thealigned end of the adjacent tube as shown in dotted lines in Figure 9.

In this form of the invention eave poles are dispensed with and theumbrella tent, shown in broken lines, is supported at its top corners bythe fittings 41, at its apex by the top of the mast 42, and its bottomedges may be attached to the bottom frame member 33 by any approvedmeans or may be staked to the ground in the usual manner. If desired thebottom frame along with the bottom corner fittings 35 may be dispensedwith and the bottom ends of the corner posts 37 may be driven into theground for stability.

In the modified form of umbrella tent frame shown in Figure 5, thecorner posts 43 are turned inwardly and upwardly to converge intoattachment to a single fitting 44. The bottom ends of the corner postsmay also be united with a bottom frame (not shown) as do the cornerposts 36 in Figure 1 or they may be driven into the ground as aforesaid.If it is desired to include eave poles in this form of frame, a cornerfitting 45 as illustrated in Figure 7 may be utilized, but in this case,the corner posts would be separate from their converging top portionsand attached to the dowel 46 extending downwardly from the fitting, andthe separate upwardly converging portions would engage with the upwardlyand inwardly extending dowel 47, and the cave poles would engage withthe horizontal dowels 48.

While I have shown particular forms of embodiment of my invention, I amaware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toothers skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. A frame for a tent of the umbrella type, said frame comprising a baseframe made up of a plurality of interconnected separable tubularsections of equal length and interconnected at the corners of the baseframe by identical corner fittings, each of said corner fittingscomprising three outwardly diverging arm portions reinforced relative toeach other by integrated webs, a plurality of upwardly extending cornerposts each made up of a plurality of interconnected separable tubularsections equal in length to those of the base frame and removablysecured at their bottom ends to said corner fittings, a plurality ofradiating tubular sections removably secured at their outer ends to thetop ends of said corner posts by identical fittings and at their innerends to a single fitting, each of said last mentioned identical fittingscomprising two angularly related arm portions reinforced relative toeach other by an integrated web, and a roof-supporting vertical poleremovably secured to said single fitting.

2. A tent frame as in claim 1, including a dowel slidably 0, y a 4mounted in one of said tubular sections of said upwardly 1,502,898 BergJuly 29, 1924 extending corner posts and operable from the exterior1,574,222 Wensel Feb. 23, 1926 thereof for projection into an alignedend of an adjacent 2,181,016 Gross Nov. 21, 1939 tubular section.2,488,809 Denn Nov. 22, 1949 References Cited in the file of this patent5 Anderson et June 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 1,347,808Franklin July 27, 1920 4,077 Great Britain Mar. 23, 1886

